Searching
by Moonlight1blue
Summary: What does it mean to be reborn? Yuri- Now named Emiko Kaori- already thinks she has it figured out. She remembers her friends, her life as the Battlefront leader, and she swears she'll find them. As their ex-leader, that's her duty, right? But the problem is, she's just a 16 year old high school student. How exactly CAN she find them?
1. Chapter 1

__**Hi! Well, I'm in LOVE with Angel Beats, and I've really been wanting to do a fic about it. So here is my shot at it, hope you guys like it! This first chapter is very short, but it'll start getting longer. And better. Hehe, trust me! :D**_  
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* * *

_What does it mean to be reborn? Will I take on a whole new form, gain a new personality? Will I be happy? I suppose it's possible, but is it worth taking that risk? All the time I spent with my friends here, all the memories I made, will they ever come back? I won't remember them to miss them, but can I really leave knowing that I may never see them again? … Looking around, at the faces of some of those who'd been here with me in the past who-knows-how-long, I realized I would be okay. Otonashi, Kanade, Hinata, and Naoi… In the end, the love I felt for them was strong enough. I knew that we would find each other. Somehow, some way, we wouldn't let anything keep us apart. After all, they were like… they were like my family! And family is the most important thing to me… even in this life…_

"Emiko Kaori, seat number three," The homeroom teacher blankly said, pointing to an empty chair near the wall by the window.  
I'd always loved sitting by the window. It was beautiful outside; I loved to stare outside while in class. Who needs class anyways?

I sat my bag under my chair and kicked my feet up onto the railing of the back chair, crossing my ankles. Hey, may as well make myself at home, right? After all, I needed to be comfortable to come up with a plan. Slowly, I flipped open my notebook and began to scribble down names. _Yuzuru Otonashi. Kanade Tachibana. Hideki Hinata. Masami Iwasawa.  
_ They were the first ones I decided to find. I was praying that Otonashi, or whatever his name was in this life, had already found Kanade… I had faith in them to find each other. That would make finding everyone else so much easier, because I wouldn't be the only one convincing them of what had happened in the afterlife.

"Hey, Emiko, is it?" The boy sitting in front of me asked.

I looked up, only half interested. I wasn't really in the mood to talk, not while I was trying to figure out where to find my friends. He had long, dark reddish brown hair and brown eyes. He had a certain… confidence to him. No, it wasn't that he was confident, he was conceited. Yes, that was definitely it. I had already lost interest.

He turned more to look at me, and rested his arm on my desk causally. "The name's Riku Tamasine. I've been wanting to introduce myself since last year, but I was pretty shy," he said, not very shyly at all, if you ask me.  
Riku looked at me, and grinned- no, smirked, a half smirk, trying to give a smoldering look. I merely stared at him, unamused and unfazed.  
"You don't seem shy to me," was all I said before looking back down at my notebook and scribbling in possible countries they could be located in.  
I didn't hear his reaction, nor did I see it, but after he when move his arm after a few seconds I looked back up at him agitatedly. "Is there something you want?" I asked, annoyed to be distracted from my concentration.

He pursed his lips and stared at me for a few moments. Then he merely shook his head and smiled. "You just remind me of someone. Someone that I had a dream about," he looked at me, then his face went red and he put his hands up in defense, shaking them along with his head rapidly. "N-Not that I had a dream about you, I don't even know you, that would be weird! I just meant, that, um…"  
I rolled my eyes and thumped him hard in between the eyes. "If you're just gonna ramble on about creepy dreams you have about me, I'm not interested to hear it!" I said a little too loudly, because everybody in class turned to stare at us.

"Ms. Kaori, I will ask you once to keep it down before I remove you from your seat, okay?" The teacher warned.  
"Yeah, okay, I'll shut up," I said with a sigh, slinking back into my chair. "Riku, leave me alone, okay? I have some planning to do." I continued quietly so that the rest of the class didn't hear me.

He raised an eyebrow questionably, but merely turned around.

I tapped my pencil against my chin a few times. How would I be able to find my friends? Were they even in the same country? What if they were reborn into some third world country that I would never be able to locate? GAH- THIS WAS SO HARD!  
My concentration was once again broken when a note slid on my desk, from none other than Riku. Angrily, I unfolded the note and read it, expecting some kind of cheesy pick up line or something. Instead, what I read took me by surprise, and almost made me pee my pants from shock.

'Nice to see you again, Yurippe. Looks like I found you before you could find me. Hinata: 1 Yurippe:0'


	2. Chapter 2

****WOO AN UPDATE! Haha xD The chapters will get longer, I promise, it's just I'm starting out with my first Angel Beats fic, and it's hard for me but very fun to write! Thank you for the reviews and followers, I really appreciate it!****  
As soon as the bell rang and let us out for lunch, I caught up with Hina- Riku. "Hey!" I exclaimed, grabbing his arm tightly. "Let's eat together. We have so much catching up to do!"

Who would have known he would just… show up at the same high school I had just moved to! I dragged him with me to the lunch line and stood by him. "So…" I began, grabbing a bottle of water.  
"So," he repeated. "I finally found you. I take it you haven't found any of the others?"

I sighed, shaking my head. "I don't know where to start, even. I mean, it was just plain coincidence that we ended up going to the same high school!" I said.  
He smirked and looked at me, moving up in line to grab a plate of chicken with mashed potatoes. "A coincidence, eh? Was it really?"

* * *

*Riku's p.o.v*

We made our way to a lunch table and sat down across from each other. She began talking about possible countries that Otonashi and Kanade might be in. I stared at her, comparing the girl in front of me to the girl I once knew. Sure, she was the same girl, but she was also a complete stranger. Someone totally different.

Her dark, reddish brown hair had been replaced with black hair that reached her mid-back. And her aqua-green eyes were now a clear light blue. Her eyes were big with thick lashes, and she was petite and short this time around.

"Hey! Are you listening?" She asked angrily before reaching across the table and thumping my forehead.

… She may look different, but she was still as scary and violent as ever.

"This is our chance to find our friends! Aren't you anxious?" She asked, a bit calmer than her last question had been.  
"'Course I am, but logically speaking we'll never be able to find them. I mean, they could be anywhere in the whole world right now," I responded reasonably.

"Well, then we'll have to figure this out on our own! There has to be some trick to this… I know we'll be able to find them…" she trailed off.  
I sighed and shook my head a bit. "Miko, why are you so determined to find them? Sure, it'd be nice to see them again, but… odds are… they're going to be completely different people, and they won't be the friends we once knew. I just don't want you to get disappointed."  
She tilted her head to the side and narrowed her eyes. "You think I don't know that?" she asked.

"Well… um… Yeah I did think you didn't know, actually. I thought you were expecting them to be just like they were," I responded.

I watched her as she let out a small, almost forced laugh. "Yeah but once they remember they'll go back to how they were! And then we'll all be friends again!"

I shook my head again. Same old Yurippe. But then again, she was so similar to her old self in personality that she may have been right.

* * *

*Emiko's P.O.V.*  
After school let out, Riku and I exchanged numbers to keep in touch. I walked home, as I always did, and sat on the couch, flipping through channels until I got to the news.

"Sis! Hey!" My older sister, Kuri, said as she walked through the hall into the living room.

"Oh, hey sis. What're you doing home?" I smiled a little and looked up at her.

Kuri sat down beside me and smiled. "I got out of work early! Thought I'd come spend some time with my little sister! … Are you watching the news? They were talking about swimming or something! You like to swim, right sis?"  
"Yeah, I'm on the swim team. They were probably talking about the competition next week, it's really important-"  
"Well that's great! Are you going?" She asked me.

I nodded. "Yep! I'm gonna win, too!" I said with a smile.

She smiled a warm, hearty smile. "Well, good luck little sis! I have faith in you!"

* * *

*The competition*

After changing into my slick one piece, and putting my swim cap on, I looked around at some of the kids from other schools. No one really stood out to me or looked interesting, so I didn't speak to any of them. Besides, they w_ere _my competition, after all. And they were going down!

Ten minutes before the competition, one boy fell and dislocated his knee. I wasn't up against him, as it was girls against girls and vice versa, so it didn't really affect me. … Until the put him on a stretcher and his swim cap was removed and I saw his red hair, that was the exact same as someone I'd once known.

I knew it was him, it had to be! Fate must have brought us together and had this happen, but now fate had done its part and I had to act on my own. I ran over to the stretcher they were now hauling out and waved to him. "Otonashi! Otonashi, it's me! Yurippe!" I yelled eagerly, and his burgundy colored eyes met mine. It was strange how much he looked like he had before, but I suppose things happen.

He made a face of confusion and stared at me from a few feet away. "Sir, do you know this girl? Is she your friend or family?" one of the men asked.

He kept his eyes on me for a few seconds, and I kept a smile on my face. Of course he knew me!

"I have no idea who she is, sir," he replied.

Or maybe not.

They carried him onto the ambulance to go get his knee fixed and I watched them drive off, angry and confused.  
"Emiko! Hurry up, it's almost your turn!" My coach ordered.

"Oh, right, yes I'm going!" I answered before returning to my place.


	3. Chapter 3

**Woah look who updated their story :D**

***Ahem* **  
**Anyways, I have been away from home seeing family and such. There's been a lot of things going on and I couldn't find the time to update, but I finally did! It's short, I know, yadayada chapters will try and be longer it just hasn't worked out yet. *sigh***

"And he didn't even recognize me!" I exclaimed, dramatically throwing my hands in the air and huffing.

"Well, maybe it wasn't _really _him, Miko. It's possible you were just mistaken," Riku said calmly.

I glared at him. Me? Mistaken? Anger boiled up inside me. I slowly said, "You think I was _mistaken?_"

He sighed and shook his head. "Yur- Miko, look, I'm not saying it wasn't him, bu-"  
"But you're saying it wasn't him," I said.

"Well…" he trailed off, obviously unable to think of a good response.

I sighed and turned around, flipping my long hair behind me and then flipping a page of my textbook. We'd decided to go to a nearby café and study for our test next week, but frankly I was having trouble concentrating on anything other than Otonashi, or whatever he was named in this life, and why he didn't recognize me. I would have thought that he of all people would remember. I mean, he was the one that saved us all, most surprisingly saving _me._ It just befuddled me.

"If you had seen him, you would've known it as well. I thought that he would have found Kanade by now, but judging from recent events I think it's safe to say that's not the case. That's going to make this a whole lot harder than it already is," I said sadly.

I jumped a little when Riku softly patted my shoulder. He was so awkward when trying to comfort me. "Don't worry, Miko, you're stubborn enough to keep searching for them forever. Even if it's not in this lifetime, you'll find 'em. I have faith in you," he said with a smile.

"You don't think I'll find them in this lifetime?" I asked loudly, and a few people turned to give us stern looks, as if to tell us to shut up.

"That's not what I said!" he replied in a hushed tone.

"But you implied it!" I said a bit quieter.

He shook his head and smiled a bit. "Same old Yurippe. Like I said, you're stubborn. You'll find them. I know you will."

"Hmmn… Well I can't do it without some help," I smiled, "and that's why you're going with me to track him down!"

"Track him down?" He raised an eyebrow at me.

I nodded enthusiastically. "I know he's in the hospital now, and I do remember you mentioning your mother being a doctor…" I hinted.

His eyes widened. "No way. I'm not having my mother break us into the hospital and bring us to him! Besides, she works in the children's part of the hospital!" he argued.

"Relax! I'd never have your mother do _that_ for us! Sheesh, I was only going to say you go with her one day to 'observe her doctorly duties' and then say you're going to go look around for something to eat, or go to a gift shop. Then you sneak me in after stealing two doctors' uniforms and we find him! You want to be a doctor as well, so I'm sure she'll let you tag along, right?" I asked him.

"I don't think that'll work, she'll get suspicious. Besides, I doubt they're going to have a bring your kid to work day, so they'd never let me follow her around all day. They'd probably tell me the only way I could do that is to work as an inte- I mean, um…" he trailed off.

I raised an eyebrow and grinned. "Intern, eh?

"Well…" he sighed. "Yeah, they hire interns sometimes," he grumbled.

I clapped my hands and laughed. "Looks like we just got ourselves a new job!" I said.

Again he sighed, and hung his head. "Fun," he muttered sarcastically, obviously not thinking it was fun.

* * *

*Riku's P.O.V*

Sometimes I wonder if Yurip- 'Miko's a little insane. Or a _lot _insane. Did she really think this plan was going to work? Although I had to admit, most of her plans worked in the afterlife. But then again, this isn't the afterlife anymore. Maybe she lost her great planning abilities and is just insane… nah, that can't be the case.

"Okay, so we'll go in as interns, then we'll find his room and kidnap him!" Emiko stated.

… Okay, maybe that w_as _the case. She certainly didn't sound sane right now, anyways.

"Woah, what? We can't do that, that's illegal!" I shouted.

She laughed and smiled at me. "Sorry, I was just making sure you were paying attention!"

I sighed, relieved. Looked like she wasn't entirely insane after all. "So what is the real plan?"

"Well, pretty much the same, but instead of kidnapping him, we're just going to make him remember us," she responded.

"Right… and how're we going to do that again?" I asked.

She sighed and rolled her eyes. "Look, we just are, okay?" she answered irritably as she pulled into the hospital parking lot. "We already got the job, thanks to your mother, and now we have to pull through with this. We can't just stop now! We're so close! Besides, there's no other way!"

She turned the car off and hopped out. I slowly followed her and we walked up to the hospital entrance. "Remember the plan," she whispered.

"Right, right," I answered.


	4. Chapter 4

**WOAH an update! xD I finally got this chapter finished and am working on the next one already~! Which means a quicker update ( well at least it'll be sooner than this one was) So I hope you like it!**

"Riku, would you mind showing me where the bathrooms are? I need to go. Now. Like, right now," I urged. That was the beginning to our plan, the reason we had for sneaking away.

"Sure, no problem," he replied. "We'll be right back," he said to the nurse who was changing a bandage on one patient.

She quickly turned her head for a brief second. "Oh, no, just give me a second and I'll take you, dear! It'd be better since in this wing the men's and women's restrooms are so far apart. It's odd, but it's because they are moving them to another area and the women's is already built while the construction for the men's is taking place, so I doubt he'd know where it is either," she explained as she finished wrapping the bandage.

Gaaahhh! This stupid nurse ruined the whole plan! I looked over at Riku, who obviously didn't know what to say. That idiot should have just said he knew where it was! Now I had to think of a whole new plan!

"Oh… um, alright then," I said quietly. I hoped my annoyance rang throughout the room so that it made the both of them feel awkward.

The nurse turned and motioned for me to follow her, cheerfully making her way down the hall, passing by some rooms holding patients. _Wait. _Some rooms holding patients! This could be where he is!  
I looked into each room as we passed by, trying to peek into the windows. Some of them were covered with curtains, though, which really agitated me. It was like the universe didn't want us to meet again. Although… I could steal a nurse's uniform and go into each room to check on the patients! Of course, I'd only go into the ones whose room I can't see into and check on them.

"Here we are! I can't stay; I need to go back to the patient now. Can you find your way back?" The nurse asked with a bright smile.  
"Ah, thanks! I'll be fine," I said before rushing into the bathroom.  
After a few minutes, I came back out, plan hatched and ready to go. The nurse wasn't there anymore, like she'd informed me. Everything was falling right into place…

Or so I thought, until I saw a faintly familiar boy being wheeled to the elevator. Excitedly, I ran towards him and waved my arms. "Otonashi!" I yelled as loud as I could.

The nurse wheeling him out turned and looked at me sternly. He asked something to Otonashi, who shook his head slowly, giving me an odd look. He really didn't recognize me! That jerk! The nurse took no time in boarding the wheel chair bound boy onto the elevator before I reached them.

"Excuse me, ma'am," one of the receptionist walked up to me, "we're going to have to ask you to leave due to disturbing the patients' peace."

"Wha…? But I'm an intern here!" I argued. Although I have no reason to be an intern here anymore, but where they really going to kick me out?

She glared. "Ma'am, don't make me repeat myself," she said lowly.

"Uhh, right, I'll go now," I sighed. My first job and I already got fired on the first day.

Riku was already walking towards me, shaking his head. "You already got us fired," he said teasingly. "Come on, let's go. I guess I should've expected as much with you."

He elbowed me lightly and I rolled my eyes. "Please, I at least found him. Besides, you're technically still an intern, right? I'm the only one who got fired," I replied, flipping my hair behind me and pushing the button to the elevator as if I was proud of what I said.

"Even worse," he said, "but nonetheless I have no interest in working as an intern here by myself. It'd be pretty darn boring. Plus…"

"Plus?" I raised an eyebrow, waiting for him to continue as we stepped into the elevator.

He laughed and patted my head a little too roughly, "I have to help you find our friends!"

"Hey!" I said, rubbing my head, "That hurt."

Although I was glaring at him, I couldn't help but smile. "Thank you," I told him. "I'm glad you really think we can find them."

He grinned at me mysteriously, "I got something that may help us out quite a bit…"

I cocked my head to the side curiously. "And that is…?"

Reaching into his pocket, he searched around for a second as if to prolong the moment just to bug me before pulling out a piece of paper and handing it to me. "Open it," he said.

I unfolded the paper and looked over it. Written on it was a name, and I immediately realized what he'd done. "You found out his name!"

He shrugged. "It was easy, I overhead it and wrote it down quickly in case I forgot it. That should make it a lot easier to find him, right?" he asked, obviously proud of himself.

The elevator dinged to let us know we were at the first floor and opened up slowly. I smiled at him and nodded, eager to leave and look up this name as soon as possible. I took off as fast as I could to the parking lot, Riku trailing behind me slowly.

_I'm so close… I have his name, that's all I need to find him… _I thought before getting into the car. I glanced down at the name on the paper once more and smiled to myself. Things were finally looking up, and soon the three of us would be reunited and one step closer to finding all of our friends once again. Riku got in the car finally and looked at me. "You're very happy aren't you?"

I smiled again, "Extremely. Now, let's go home. We have to find Kei Hayashi."

So that was his name this time around… interesting. I hope that eventually, he'll remember us just like we remember him. _We'll be reunited soon, Otonashi. _


	5. Chapter 5

Scrolling through tons of different social media sites, I managed to find his profile on the most popular one. Grinning, I tilted my head to the side, looking over his profile thoroughly. He was seventeen and attended a private boarding school near my own. The door opened and Riku walked in, sitting beside me on my bed.

"Doing some old fashioned internet stalking, eh?" He asked, amused.

"Well it's not really old fashioned. Besides, I just looked up his name. It's not like I'm showing up on his doorstep or anything," I replied distantly. "Not that he has a doorstep to show up on; I'm pretty sure dorms aren't exactly like that. He goes to a boarding school."

He huffed and shook his head. "Stalker," was all he muttered.

"It's not my fault he put it on the internet. Anyways, this is just simple stuff. He doesn't even have his room number listed, so it'll be a hassle finding that out."

"… But we're going to do it anyways, aren't we?"

I shut my laptop and set it beside me. "What do you think?" Laughing, I tapped him on the head and stood up. "Let's go, we're gonna be late to school!"

"Are you _always _this crazy in the morning?" He asked, standing up and slinging his bag over his shoulder.

He seemed sort of out of it this morning, but I wasn't sure why. Maybe he was just having mood swings, but I wondered if I should be worried. Perhaps he was angry with me about the internship, but I thought he hadn't really cared about that at all.

"Are you always this grumpy?" I asked and stuck my tongue out at him. "Sheesh, lighten up."

We walked out of the house silently. Everyone was already gone; my mother and father both at work and my sister was nowhere to be seen. She often left for days, maybe weeks at a time whenever she felt like it. My parents never really cared though. I was brought out of my thoughts when Riku elbowed me playfully.

"Sorry for being a grouch. I was up all night doing chores, my mother was really angry about me quitting the internship and she grounded me," he explained.

I raised an eyebrow, "You didn't have to quit, you know. I'm sure they would've let you stay."

He shrugged. "I already have things to do in my free time, like help you stalk people. Besides, I have no interest in being an intern, or doing anything along those lines. I don't even want to be a doctor. My parents are the ones who want that for me."

Riku looked down, "I don't want to disappoint them, but then again I don't want to do something that will make me unhappy."

We walked in silence for a few minutes before I said something. "Your parents love you, they just want what they think is best for you. You should do what makes you happy, because even though they push so hard for you to become something you don't want, they'll be happy for you whenever you're happy. They just want you to be successful, but you will be no matter what you do."

I smiled at him and he looked at me. "You sure are a wise one, 'Miko," he chuckled and patted my head. "Thanks."

About ten minutes later, we reached the school. We both hurried to get inside and out of the chilly weather.

* * *

After school, we met up again to talk about our plans. "I'm still grounded, so I can't do anything for the next week. Sorry…" Riku explained.

I sighed. I really didn't want to wait that long, but sneaking onto a campus by myself seemed a little risky. Although I did have a few plans…

"That sucks. I guess I'll only see you at school then, huh? Are you walking today?" I flipped open my bag and stuck my homework into it. I probably would just forget about it. Who needs school when you're busy tracking down your friends?

Riku hesitated to answer before looking down. "Nah, my mom's here to pick me up. I gotta run, see you tomorrow," he replied before walking off.

He still seemed a little off today, but I was probably just imagining things. Whatever the problem was, I was sure he'd work it out on his own and talk about it another time if at all. I had more important things to handle.

About an hour later, I'd made my way to the bus stop and to his boarding school. I hated taking the bus; I always had the worst luck on them. This time I had to sit between a smelly guy and a mother who was letting her child cry the whole time. Like I said, I had the worst luck.

I walked into the office and rang the little bell they had sitting on the desk. Fancy.

"May I help you?" A woman in a chair rolled into the office. Her hair was platinum blonde and was cut short, but curls that looked as if they had minds of their own flew every which way. I imagine I knew why she kept it short.

"I, um, am here to see my friend. Kei Hayashi is his name," I told her.

She pursed her bright red lips and scooted over to the computer, scrolling and clicking until she found whatever it was she was looking for. "What is your name?" She asked. The lady drummed her long, manicured nails on the desk impatiently.

"Emiko Kaori," I responded.

She printed out a piece of paper with the date and my name on it, with the word 'VISITOR' under it. "You're going to need to wear that as long as you're here. I'll call him up here, but you're going to have to meet in that room," she pointed to a door to the left of me, "since you're not family, you can't leave campus with him or go to his dorm. You can go ahead and go in there, he'll be here in a bit. I just messaged his dorm advisor who'll let him know."

I nodded and thanked her before walking into the room. There were two chairs and across from them was a small loveseat, a few vending machines, and a coffee table between the chairs and loveseat. After thinking about it for a few seconds, I decided my best choice of action would be to sit on the loveseat because it faced away from the door, that way he would hopefully want to see who I was and take a seat across from me, therefore I would be able to block him from leaving. Sounded perfect to me.

A couple minutes later, the door opened and he walked inside, I'm assuming. I noticed that was on crutches. I didn't look at him because I was sure he'd run away when he saw who I was and I'd probably be in quite a bit of trouble.

"Uh, hey?" He asked more than said, and walked over to one of the chairs. He sat down and looked over at me, confused. "I'm sorry, have we actually met before? I…" he stared at me before his eyes widened. "You're that girl who keeps following me…!"

"Wait, don't freak out!" I exclaimed, putting my hands up as if to show I didn't have a weapon or anything. "I really just need to talk to you. I promise I'm not some creepy stalker girl who's in love with you or anything, that'd be gross. No offense or anything," I laughed a little.

He didn't look amused, but he didn't move either. "Fine, I'll give you one minute to say what you want to say before I make them kick you out."

I smiled, "That's more than enough time!" Well, no, it wasn't, but I decided I could take him if he tried to leave. He is on crutches, after all. Not that I'd do that…

"Well, okay, try and keep an open mind," I took a deep breath. "I supposed I'll start here. Does the name Kanade sound familiar to you?" I asked.

He crossed his arms and scowled. "You have forty three seconds, and no. I've never heard that name in my life."

Well he was being difficult wasn't he? I sighed and shook my head. I had definitely done my research on everyone, past life and present. Well, as much as I had to work with for their present lives. Meaning everything I could find about Kei and Riku. I reached into my bag and pulled out some pictures I'd printed out. Like I said, I'd done my research. I had found pictures from yearbooks of everyone that I could, including Kanade. I'd only found two actually, Kanade and myself. Quickly as to not waste time, I handed him both of the pictures I'd printed out from a website that had scanned yearbook pictures on their.

"Do these two girls look familiar to you? Even just a little bit?" I asked hopefully.

He stared at the two pictures for a long time, and I felt a huge spark of hope. He put one of the pictures behind the other and concentrated on it. It had to be Kanade's, there was no way he wouldn't remember he when he saw her!

"This one seems a little familiar," he said, and I grinned. He recognized her! He really did!

He turned the picture around. "Her green eyes and brown hair remind me of this pop idol, I forgot her name though… she kind of looks like her," he said, handing me the pictures back. "Other than that, I've never seen either of them, honestly."

"W-what?! You don't recognize Kanade? T-that's… that's a lie! You loved her so much!" I yelled, angrily. Tears stung my eyes as I realized he was serious, and I stood up quickly.

He glared, "Look lady, I don't even know your name and I don't know who you think I am, but you're wrong! When I first saw you, you called me some name that's not mine, and now you're asking me about people I've never even met! You're insane!"

"No, you're the one who's insane! How can you not remember the girl you loved?" I shot back before stuffing the pictures back into my bag. "I'm leaving. Have a nice life," I said.

"Good riddance," he snarled.

I glanced back at him and glared. "Don't worry, you'll see me again soon."


	6. Chapter 6

"You seem a little down today," Riku pointed out. "And you haven't told me what happened with Kei. You met with him yesterday, right?"

We were walking around a small shopping center. I'd asked him to come out with me today because I was feeling down, but I told him it was because I was tired of being at home all weekend. It was Sunday, and I wasn't looking forward to school tomorrow. The truth was, I was really having my doubts about finding everyone. And that really scared me.

"I've just been thinking," I responded.

He didn't say anything, but I knew he wanted a further explanation but was too polite to bring it up. "When you're reborn, you're no longer who you were before. You're somebody else now. I thought that maybe, just _maybe _there was a chance that you didn't change, but I was wrong. We're both different from who we were back then, and in our past lives. In mine, I was an angry, confused girl who hated this cruel world. Now I'm just happy to have the chance to spend time with the people I love. Sure, parts of me are the same, but in reality I'm no longer Yuri. I'll never be her again. So really, it's ignorant to believe Otonashi is still Otonashi, and the same with everyone else. Even if Kei is him reborn, he's not the same. I only thought it was him because he looked like him, but honestly the way we look are based upon our parents in this life. It's foolish of me to assume they'll look the same. Or even be the same gender."

I walked a few steps ahead of him so he couldn't see my face. Tears welled up in my eyes as I admitted this to him.

"Idiot."

I stopped walking. "You're an idiot sometimes, Emiko. Sure, there's a chance that Kei really isn't him, but why else are we able to remember them? Why can we remember our life in the battlefront and all of our friends? Do you think that's just a pure coincidence? And the fact that we go to the same high school- do you really think that's just _luck_?" He grabbed me and turned me to face him, and he didn't notice, or point out, my tears, which I was thankful for. "This lifetime might be the only one where we have this chance. We made peace with ourselves in the afterlife, and we made some amazing friends along the way. We remember them because we love them, and we're meant to find them again. I don't know how we kept our memories, but I do know why. Remember how we started the battlefront together? It was just the two of us; and eventually we added more people. That bond is what taught us so much, and because it's so strong we get one chance, one try, to find each other in this life. That is why we remember, and that is why I will _never _let you give up!"

I stared at him, taking in his words. "You're… you're right. I'm sorry for giving up so easily. We'll find them, and we'll do it together." I wiped my tears away and smiled.

He smiled back and we kept walking, this time in a happy silence. We walked a bit further until his phone rang, and he stepped aside to answer it. I looked around, looking at all the people who were walking around. Seeing them really made me realize just how big this world was, but it also made me that much more determined to find my friends. I looked to my left and saw another girl, who seemed a bit familiar, but I shook it off. Just because she looked familiar doesn't mean she's one of my friends. I didn't want to make a mistake like that again.

But I couldn't keep my eyes off her. She was messing around on her phone, humming to herself. Although I couldn't make out the song; she was too far away for me to hear it clearly. Riku was in a conversation with his mother about some chores he didn't do, so I continued to study the girl. She was leaning against the wall all alone, completely ignoring the people passing her by. _Maybe I'll just talk to her once, for a few minutes, after Riku hangs up… _I thought to myself. Anxiously, I waited for him to get off the phone, but sadly the girl stood up straight and began walking away. Let's face it, it's not her anyways. I'm foolish to believe it'll be that easy.

She kept walking for a few steps until someone turned and walked towards her, this catching my attention. My heart sped up as he reached out towards her and placed a hand on her shoulder. It was…

"Kanade!" He called out, and she turned to look at him. Dozens of emotions passed over her face, confusion, fear, realization, happiness… love.

Riku had heard the name called out, and he immediately said he had to go and hung up the phone. "'Miko, did he just say…?"

The two of them had embraced, Kanade in tears. Otonashi probably was, too, but he was facing away from me. I grabbed Riko's hand and pulled him with me, running towards them.

I smiled through tears, and we reached them. None of us had to give an explanation, we just knew. I realized something, something I suppose I'd known all my life.

Love, in any form, is stronger than fate. Riku was right about this not being a coincidence. It was our love for all of our friends that pulled us together, and we're all much too stubborn to be pulled apart by anything, even being reborn. I knew that this wasn't over yet; we had many more people to find, but there was no need to rush. Love would pull us together no matter how far away we were. I truly believe it.

* * *

**So, I think this is the last chapter. I didn't want to make it too long seeing as I take so long to post updates anyways. XD **

**Anywho, I hope you guys enjoyed, and thank you so much for all the reviews! Especially you guys who reviewed consistently it's the only thing that keeps me writing! ^_^  
Don't worry, this is definitely not my last Angel Beats fic. *wink wink hint hint* so please stick around if you liked this one! 3**


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